I just purchased a 26.5. Can someone explain why the headsail starts at the deck? I noticed I had plenty of room at the top so I made a cable to raise it 18 inches off the deck. I took it for a sail It works well. I made 3.2 kts with the head sail alone. It gave me a little vision under the sail. It wasn't pressing into my life line.Why was it designed to start at the deck or was this the way the previous owner wanted it?
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That is an old cruisers trick; to install an extension
to raise the tack of the headsail to aquire better visibility. On long trips it becomes tiring to repeatedly manuever the boat or contort yourselve to look around the headsail. Racing enthusiasts may advise against it for loss of performance and balance but for a normal boat in fair to moderate weather any detrimental effect will likely be negligible. Many Hunters came from factory with a split bow pulpit so that the headsail could be flown outside the lifelines. Those with large genoas do need to fly them outside the shrouds as well.
to raise the tack of the headsail to aquire better visibility. On long trips it becomes tiring to repeatedly manuever the boat or contort yourselve to look around the headsail. Racing enthusiasts may advise against it for loss of performance and balance but for a normal boat in fair to moderate weather any detrimental effect will likely be negligible. Many Hunters came from factory with a split bow pulpit so that the headsail could be flown outside the lifelines. Those with large genoas do need to fly them outside the shrouds as well.
Tack Pennant
I basically asked this same question about a year or so ago and got many suggestions. After consulting with my sailmaker I made my own pennant from webbing and polyester thread on my wifes sewing maching. Be sure to double stitch all the folds and even sew an X into the folded ends. Works great.
I basically asked this same question about a year or so ago and got many suggestions. After consulting with my sailmaker I made my own pennant from webbing and polyester thread on my wifes sewing maching. Be sure to double stitch all the folds and even sew an X into the folded ends. Works great.
Deck Sweeper
My 26.5 has a roller furler with the drum buried in the anchor well running a 135 headsail. Since this setup puts the foot right on the deck I had a clear plastic window cut into the headsail for visability. Works great in light air, doesn't seem to overpower until after 20- 25 mph and seems to match well with the main. A friend has a 26.5 running a Catalina 25 140 headsail which has the foot 16- 20 inches off the deck, and there is definitley a performance difference between the two boats. Since I do race, I'm going for the performance, if I wasn't racing, I would raise the furler to eliminate the tendancy to hang up on the life lines and it's a real pain to connect the headstay when raising the mast after trailering. But more important, the boss doesn't like the extra heeling I get in medium air.
My 26.5 has a roller furler with the drum buried in the anchor well running a 135 headsail. Since this setup puts the foot right on the deck I had a clear plastic window cut into the headsail for visability. Works great in light air, doesn't seem to overpower until after 20- 25 mph and seems to match well with the main. A friend has a 26.5 running a Catalina 25 140 headsail which has the foot 16- 20 inches off the deck, and there is definitley a performance difference between the two boats. Since I do race, I'm going for the performance, if I wasn't racing, I would raise the furler to eliminate the tendancy to hang up on the life lines and it's a real pain to connect the headstay when raising the mast after trailering. But more important, the boss doesn't like the extra heeling I get in medium air.
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